.372 



The Garden Magazine, August, 1922 



•or scrambly shrub with beautiful green foliage and star-shaped 

 blossoms. 



For solid surface the climbing Rubber-vine (Ficus repens) is 

 the most perfect creeper known. It has small, oval, glossy leaves 

 and will quickly clamber up and cover any kind of wall. It is 

 especially good against a cement background. The very ex- 

 clusive may surround themselves with an impenetrable hedge of 

 Cherokee Roses. These delicate guardians come in pink and 

 white; the former do not grow so densely or so aggressively as the 

 white; or a continuous wall of Oleanders may be fancied — 

 creamy white, flesh, pale pink, yellow, and deep crimson. Be- 

 ware of a deep pink form that has a suspiciously magenta look. 

 Oleanders are easily grown from cutting — gifts perhaps from 

 friends and neighbors, or possibly you will even bravely ask a 

 stranger for one or two from an unusually lovely bush, and its 

 owner will gladly give them. There is a curious bond of fellow- 

 ship created by exchanging cuttings and plants. Such exchang- 

 ing, however, must be done in the spring. 



Put the cuttings in bottles filled with water; stand in a shady 

 place out-of-doors, not disturbing until strong roots have formed; 

 then remove from the bottles and plant in the ground. They 

 will grow like weeds and bloom before you know it. Should you 

 prefer a hedge there are Pittosporum, Cherry-Laurel, Amoor 

 River Privet, California Privet, Camphor, and Red Cedar, all 

 ideal for hedges closely trimmed or untrimmed. 



What of Palms, you are thinking? Yes, indeed, what is 

 Florida without a Palm? The most popular kinds, the Phoenix 

 - canadensis and the Washingtonia, are effectively used in the 

 park space between sidewalk and road, lending dignity and 

 ;beauty with a luxuriantly tropical effect. 



Plants About the House 



IN the matter of foundation planting to unite house and 

 earth, green shrubbery has an enduring charm, and there is 

 :a variety of material. Pittosporum looks well close to the 

 foundation. 



The Florida flower garden has an enchantment knowing no 

 limitations and it flourishes in the season of drear winter in the 

 North, extending its welcome in September instead of waiting 

 till spring. All properly planned Florida gardens are planted 

 in September and October. 



Annual Larkspur, ranging in color from deep blues and pur- 

 ples to sky-blue, from lustrous carmine, or Newport pink, to 

 pale shell-pink and white is wonderful both for cutting and gar- 

 den effect. Not long ago I came across a marginal note I had 

 made in an old garden book: "Be sure and plant pounds of 

 annual Larkspur next September!" Now the gentleman from 

 whom I purchase my seed, aside from being a most reliable 

 seedsman, is a good business man as well, and had I followed my 

 own advice I fear the poorhouse would have claimed me for its 

 -own. I remember ordering just two packets of each color, three 

 years ago. The flowers more than realized my wildest dream, 

 but for an excellent reason I have never ordered any more. Each 

 year I have marked the strongest, most beautiful plants — a nar- 

 row strip of pink checked gingham on the double pink, a plain 

 pink gingham on the single pink; blue, purple, and white ac- 

 cordingly. Thus I keep the colors and double and single varie- 

 ties separate. The plants not so honored are labelled " mixture" 

 and freely given away. 



Next in the planting scheme comes Snapdragon (Antir- 

 rhinum) of which large-flowered strains are available. Buy the 

 best seeds of the tall Giant variety that offers white, yellow, 

 ♦coral pink, a particularly beautiful deep maroon, and the new 

 -velvety copper called Indian Summer. By pinching off the tops 

 -when the plants are five inches tall, they become more stocky, 

 •branch out, and carry many more blossoms. 



Happy-go-lucky, gay little Phlox Drummondi follows on the 

 jlist; try sowing around your sun-dial the tiny seeds of Chamois 

 iRjDse, the clearest, purest pink, and of Isabellina listed as pale 



yellow, but really buff. Of course, plant plenty of creamy white 

 at intervals through your garden. 



Calendulas (Orange King, Golden King, and Lemon Queen) 

 bloom in January and are happily accompanied by the stately 

 white Giant Empress Candytuft. These prove most reliable 

 flowers for winter cutting. 



For summer flowering sow Zinnias with riotous recklessness 

 as they require little attention and withstand the hottest Florida 

 sun. Buy the named varieties of the Giant Double sort; by se- 

 lecting according to color, the magenta ones, which always over- 

 balance everything in mixed seeds, will be avoided. Sow these 

 seeds in boxes some time in March so that the plants will be 

 ready to follow the spring and earlier summer bloom. 



Daisies make a good planting along the garage; of these buy 

 plants, not seeds. Sow Cornflower seed thickly in front and do 

 not thin out the plants as their very density will hold them up. 

 Whenever you feel you must have a border, plant Parsley; it 

 stays the cheeriest green all winter besides being a most delect- 

 able garnish for the table. 



Set out Roses in November or as soon as the weather has been 

 cool enough to send the sap to the roots. If you have room for 

 only a few, Hybrid-teas and Teas are a wise choice. For white, 

 Mrs. Dudley Cross, a deliciously creamy flower with sophisti- 

 cated tinges of carmine edging its petals; Kaiserin Augusta Vic- 

 toria, austerely pale and regal; among pinks, by all means 

 Duchesse de Brabant and a pink Radiance; let two Red Rad- 

 iance, and Madame Lombard, a rosy bronze. and salmon, com- 

 plete the list. Those fortunate enough to have more space 

 might add Paul Neyron, very similar to American Beauty; 

 Captain Christy, a delicate pink; all the Maman Cochets, pink, 

 white, and yellow; also Frau Karl Druschki, a huge white, and 

 Souvenir de Malmaison, that bewitching Bourbon. There is 

 sure to be a spot where a trellis can be placed to advantage. Let 

 it be very simple and dignified. A Reine Maria Henriette, 

 planted at its base, will flaunt abundant brilliant scarlet blos- 

 soms; or a Dorothy Perkins, with delicate shell-pink clusters 

 like myriads of rosettes, will ramble gleefully over it. 



Find a corner for a Poinsettia. You are expected to have one 

 whether you love it or not. Each spring cut it back almost to 

 the ground, stick the cuttings in the earth and next Christmas 

 you will have a standing army of red coats to be cut before one 

 trace of Bougainvillea shows its color, if by chance you have this 

 purple-flowered vine. 



White flowers are particularly lovely by moonlight, perhaps 

 most of all Nicotiana affinis, with starry-white blossoms that 

 seem almost phosphorescent. Nicotiana sylvestris, often called 

 Night-blooming Jessamine, is more shrubby and hardy. The 

 fragrance of both is delicious beyond expression. 



Sweet-peas are irresistible. Plant them in October, digging 

 the trench so deep that when they come up they grow six 

 inches before they can peep over the top at the garden world. 

 Gradually fill in the trench as they grow. For a support use 

 wire netting; Sweet-peas thrive much better if they have plenty 

 of air from both sides. 



DETAIL about soil conditions and the art of planting has 

 purposely been avoided. It is the same the world over. 

 Each paper of seeds has explicit directions for the ceremony of 

 consigning them to the earth ; the nurserymen from whom you 

 purchased your plants will give you proper instruction. Have 

 you ever stopped to think how we have to study and learn the 

 way of doing nearly everything? But there is scarcely a little 

 child who does not grasp a hoe as if he were a born master of it. 

 Only a few of the infinite possibilities of growing things in 

 Florida have been lightly touched upon. To the transient and 

 the temporary sojourner let me suggest the pretty legacy to us 

 permanent Floridans of a garden, or even a vine planted to hide 

 some ugly, ill-kept spot. The stranger passing that way will 

 bless you for the friendly note that greets his eye — something 

 more than Palms sticking up stiffly like vegetable feather dusters, 

 pitched handle-end down by the gods after a royal cleaning day. 



